I'm sitting across my wife as we speak and she is getting her blood pressure checked by the nurse. I was just told that the best time of the day for a physical is in the morning. I'm glad we booked it for 9:00 AM in hindsight.

The nurse told me my blood pressure was 111 over 75 and 108 over 71. She asked me if I was active when I was a kid and told her yes and she told me that I had the blood pressure of a 17 year old.

I'm a big baby with needles and glad this went so smoothly. Then I got on the scale 233lbs. Ouch. I should be 195 pounds for my height. That is a ton of weight to loose.

The nurse told me a drop in weight of 20 pounds would be good and to do it slowly. I had no idea they measured your gut! That is no fun. I wonder what this extra poundage is going to cost me in monthly premiums?

The interesting thing I wanted to share with the group is the thing the nurse told me about my job. She told me even though I do not get my heart rate up at work the motion of bending over, kneeling and then standing up is in fact good for your heart and blood pressure. I have never heard this before. I was happy to have a good blood pressure but not so happy with the weight goal she recommends.

Has anyone else heard this? As we age what things can we do to keep our blood pressure good? I coach soccer 2-4 times a week and this is my only cardio. Reasiltically I might get only 2-3 hours a week and no where near an ideal heart rate.

If working the tools is good for the veins then I'm glad I have a job that keeps me there!

If you get a stress test done, using the treadmill, the cardiologist doing it will try to get your heart rate to 85%. They will then, through the IV's inject the meds. This will show how your heart is doing. For people who have health problems, or older people, they will lie flat on a table, injected with the meds to bring the heart rate up to 85% capacity. This shows if the 3 main arteries and vessels are open without a clot or plaque. High blood pressure can cause this. Yours sounds great, but, at a certain age, a stress test is usually done because, you can also have low blood pressure and a blood clot or a plaque problem.

If you get a stress test done, using the treadmill, the cardiologist doing it will try to get your heart rate to 85%. They will then, through the IV's inject the meds. This will show how your heart is doing. For people who have health problems, or older people, they will lie flat on a table, injected with the meds to bring the heart rate up to 85% capacity. This shows if the 3 main arteries and vessels are open without a clot or plaque. High blood pressure can cause this. Yours sounds great, but, at a certain age, a stress test is usually done because, you can also have low blood pressure and a blood clot or a plaque problem.

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I built a kitchen for a doctor that specializes in these tests. Sounds like work. I'll keep playing soccer and working on my knees for a few more years. It's a lot easier to look at my job as healthy with the bending and standing up helping your heart and blood flow stronger.

Now cut out the dust, demo and wear and tear and I might be onto something.

Would these stress test also be better done in the morning?

I didn't like skipping my morning coffee but did since a friend told me it can raise your blood pressure just before a test or if you are nervous getting a physical.

Playing Soccer or Tennis to improve your physical exam - Home Insurance

Can you get a better reading if you work our for a few weeks before a physical exam? I wonder if that would have made any difference?

I wanted to push of the test for a month and go on a health kick. Do some laps but who has time for that? lol

Soccer starts up soon enough and in the off season we play Soccer Tennis. Has any one tried this game? It is so much fun and great for the kids and dads ball control.

My little one is a speedster and won both her 100 meter race and the 4x100 meter relay last week at track. Keeping up with her is hard and gets harder every year. Now at soccer we are evenly matched and the soccer tennis matches are loads of fun.

Next year unless I get thinner and quicker she will need to spot me some points to make it fair!